BRYAN Robson is confident Kanu will remain at The Hawthorns and play a pivotal role for Albion in next season's assault on the Championship.

BRYAN Robson is confident Kanu will remain at The Hawthorns and play a pivotal role for Albion in next season's assault on the Championship.

The Baggies boss has revealed for the first time that he wants to keep the Nigerian, also hinting that the Albion star was willing to stay on despite the club's relegation.

Kanu has 12 months to run on his current three-year Hawthorns deal but has a get-out clause which enables him to leave - also allowing the club to terminate his contract - in the event of relegation.

Further talks are planned for later this week but Robson is hopeful Kanu will be back at the club's training ground on July 6 to begin pre-season preparations.

"We will chat to Kanu this week and hopefully he will stay," said Robson. "We want to speak to him and if we can persuade him to stay then I really believe he will be a real asset to us in the Championship.

"Kanu has given me indications he would be happy to stay at the club and come to some kind of an agreement with us."

There is a perception that the rough-and-tumble of Championship football may not suit Kanu's more languid style, but Robson disagrees.

He believes the giant forward can make the same impact in the Championship as Paul Merson did with Middlesbrough during their promotion-winning campaign in 1998.

Robson claims Kanu, who has already won the Champions League and Premiership medals, would thrive on the new challenge just as Merson did eight years ago.

"I've always said players sometimes like a different kind of challenge or target," added Robson.

"Getting promotion is something to achieve and some players can look upon that as a completely new challenge for themselves.

"It could be similar to when I signed Merson for Boro because he had a fantastic season and helped us to go up - that's what I'd like Kanu to do."